Book Giveaway: SOME DAYS by Karen Kaufman Orloft

Author Karen Kaufman Orloft has a new picture book titled, SOME DAYS. Karen has agreed to share a book with one lucky winner. All you have to do to get in the running is to leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you do to share the good news, so I can put in the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.

Sharing on Facebook, Twitter, reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. Thanks for helping Karen!

BOOK DESCRIPTION: 

“Some days are chocolate pudding pie days.   
Kites up in the sky days.  
Jumping super high days.”

This rhyming picture book—from the author of the bestselling I Wanna Iguana series and Miles of Smiles—is a moving, powerful, delightful exploration of a child’s shifting feelings. 
Come along and follow a year in the life of a young boy and girl as they discover their many different and ever-changing emotions, including joy, fear, anger, jealousy, excitement, pride, disappointment, loneliness, and contentment. As children read about “angels in the snow days” as well as “need my mommy now days,” they’ll begin to understand how to cope with both positive and negative feelings.

 

BOOK’S JOURNEY:

The opening lines for “Some Days” – “Some days are chocolate pudding pie days, kites up in the sky days, jumping super high days” – came to me oneday for no particular reason and stayed in my head for weeks! I loved the rhythm of the words but wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I typed them into my “idea” file on my computer, where I have a combination of stray thoughts and half-written stories.

I’m not sure how long those lines stayed in there, but one day when I was looking for a project to work on, I opened my file and came across them,
with these notes: Some Days. A story that alternates (in rhyme maybe) from one day being great – all the fun things, etc., to another being not so
great. The idea would be that you have to take the good with the bad, go with the flow, learn to deal with those not-so-good days.

I really liked this message, and started to work on more stanzas that would relay the message. Each stanza had that “show not tell” feel, using
analogies to convey feelings. (“Some days are angels in the snow days, rolling out the dough days, watch a fire glow days, etc.”)

When I had enough stanzas to possibly work for a picture book, I started playing with the order of them. Should they alternate with good and bad
days? Should I try to make it seasonal? Was I picturing one child or maybe friends or a brother and a sister?

As with all my early drafts, I showed it to my writer pals for help, and got lots of suggestions. Of course, the first draft turned into many drafts and still I wasn’t sure if it was right.

After working this little story over and over, I finally got the nerve to show it to my editor at Sterling, Meredith Mundy.  Meredith and I had just
finished working on two books, “Miles of Smiles,” and “Goodnight, Little Bot.”  Bot was not even out yet; it was in production and I wasn’t sure if
she’d want to see yet another submission from me.

But, as it turned out, she really liked it and brought it to acquisitions. The other editors also liked it but they wanted more revisions, one being
a better ending, something more heart-warming. I struggled with that for a while until a line came to me – “Learning to be me days.”

When I sent that in to Meredith, I got a note back from her right away. “You nailed it!” That totally made my day.

After that, revisions were easy, as the two of us worked on changing up stanzas to make the overall story more cohesive. It was all coming
together! I felt very excited about this particular story. I really loved the message and when Meredith found Ziyue Chen, a young illustrator from
Singapore to do the art, I knew it would be a beautiful book.

Before “Some Days” made its debut, Meredith left Sterling for Abrams, which was bittersweet, but I am very grateful that she loved it as much as
I did, and helped mold it into the final product – a heartfelt story featuring two young children working their way through their changing
feelings.

I’ve now read the book to several classes at author visits and have gotten positive reviews. One little boy simply told me, “I love that book!”
That’s the best feedback a writer can get. After all, children are our audience and best critics. When they give us their approval, that is,
indeed, a good day!

KAREN’S BIO:

Karen Kaufman Orloff is the author of 11 books for children including the popular “I Wanna” books from G.P. Putnam, illustrated by David Catrow (“I
Wanna Iguana,” “I Wanna New Room,” “I Wanna Go Home”) used extensively across the country by teachers for persuasive writing. Some of her more
recent books from Sterling Publishing include the just-released “Some Days,” illustrated by Ziyue Chen, as well as “Goodnight, Little Bot,”
illustrated by Kim Smith, and “Miles of Smiles,” illustrated by Luciano Lozano. A 12th picture book, “Dudley’s Day At Home” is forthcoming in 2020
from Flashlight Press. Karen is a member of SCBWI and co-founder of CWHV (Children’s Writers of the Hudson Valley).

Karen enjoys author visits to schools and lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband and family.

Karen, thank you for sharing your book and its’ journey with us. Looks like a really fun book with nice illustrations. I bet it will be big hit with kids and their parents. I am sure it will make the winner very happy to receive it, too. Good Luck!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy